Van Hornesville grads encouraged to seize the day

Elizabeth Cooper

Sunday

Jun 28, 2009 at 12:01 AMJun 28, 2009 at 6:01 PM

“Carpe diem.” Using the Latin phrase meaning seize the day, Owen D. Young School salutatorian Jolene Voght on Sunday exhorted those in her 22-member graduating class to be ready to try new things and face new challenges.

“Carpe diem.”

Using the Latin phrase meaning seize the day, Owen D. Young School salutatorian Jolene Voght on Sunday exhorted those in her 22-member graduating class to be ready to try new things and face new challenges.

About a month ago, an uncle Voght was close to passed away unexpectedly, and it was that loss that led her to see how precious and fragile life is, and how important it is to live every day to the fullest, she said.

“I know from personal experience that you don’t know when your last day will be,” she told those assembled on the school lawn under the days’ clear skies. “With the philosophy of carpe diem … you will be better able to handle tough times.”

Later in the ceremony, Valedictorian Lauren Hammont advised her classmates to listen to their hearts.

“Life is filled with expectations from the moment we come into the world until the moment we pass away,” she said, adding a few moments later that “oftentimes, we live our lives by someone else’s dream and not our own.”

Commencement speaker Peter Smith, who graduated from Owen D. Young in 1971, told them never to forget where they came from, not to be afraid to fail and never to stop learning.

They should go out into the world and do interesting things, he said, but encouraged them to “be proud of where you come from and embrace your local heritage and what you learned here at ODY.”

Smith is managing director of the Pataki-Cahill Group, a consulting group focused on energy and the environment formed by former New York Gov. George Pataki.

Even with all those profound thoughts, there still was humor — and pure joy.

The graduates tossed their graduation hats skyward as they officially crossed from high school into the next stage of their lives.
After the ceremony, students mingled with family and friends outside the stone school, which graduated its first class in 1931 and was built with funds provided by native son and one-time General Electric President Owen D. Young.

Students and parents interviewed after the ceremony all spoke highly of the school’s tight-knit community.

And Jolene Voght’s mother, Debbie Voght, said her daughter marked the fourth generation of her family to graduate from the school.

“They get so much individual attention,” she said. “They get to know everyone in their class.”

Suzanne Magnone, mother of graduate Gina Magnone, said her daughter had thrived at the school.

“It’s like a family,” she said. “She had great opportunities, the teachers are great. We loved it.”

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